Russia ups hypersonic game with Zircon strike on Ukraine

Russia has used its new hypersonic 3M22 Zircon missile in Ukraine for the first time in nearly two years of the conflict, according to multiple news reports, marking a potential significant escalation of the war.

Preliminary analysis by the Kiev Scientific Research Institute for Forensic Examinations (KNDISE) of missile fragments from a Russian attack on February 7 claims that a Zircon missile had been used.

The missile is claimed to have a range of 1,000 kilometers and travel at nine times the speed of sound. Its hypersonic speed could mean significantly reduced reaction time for air defenses and the capability to attack large, deep and hardened targets.

Russia has not commented on the weapon’s alleged use in Ukraine. If its use in war is more widely confirmed, the weapon could pose an additional challenge to the embattled country’s air defenses amid uncertainty over the sustainability of Western military aid.

The Zircon missile was first flight-tested in 2015 and declared operational by 2022. Russia tested the missile off two warships, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Severodvinsk submarine, before using it to arm the frigate in January 2023.

However, neither of those warships is currently in the Black Sea and it would be unusual for the missile to be fired in live combat for the first time from a vessel from which it has never previously been tested.

The Zircon is part of a Russian family of “superweapons” unveiled in March 2018 that are designed to penetrate emerging US missile defense systems and thus increase Russia’s bargaining power in strategic arms negotiations with the US.

A September 2021 Chatham House report describes the Zircon as a ship-launched hypersonic anti-ship missile, most likely a dual-capable